Category: A little of this & a little of that

A little of this & a little of that

Of Angels and Icons

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

Last month I took an art class with the amazing mixed media artist, designer, and teacher Gewn Lafleur.  She taught a full-day class “Of Angels and Icons” at Everything Scrapbook and Stamps in Lake Worth, Florida. We took inspiration from Mexican folk art and orthodox icons and made our own interpretations into mixed media angels.

We used acrylic paints, texture mediums, collage papers, ephemera, stencils, stamps, heat embossing, and beautiful fabrics that Gwen collected from around the world to accessorize our figures. We put all of those supplies together with various techniques to make our collaged angels on an 12″ x 16″ canvas pane.

I loved taking this class with a teacher who shared so much about how she creates art, her love of travel and culture, and her passion to share it with crafters like me! Take a look at how my angel turned out:

It’s amazing what a Versamark pad, embossing powder, and a heat tool can do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collage papers and ephemera on my 12 x 16 panel background
Canvas panel painted with acrylic paint and matte medium and matte medium
The most challenging part of the class – figuring out what face to use and getting the body dimensions coordinated

 

 

 

A little of this & a little of that

Try Something New!

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

I took a watercolor class a couple of months ago and have been practicing some of the techniques I learned. As a beginner, it’s more challenging to learn than what I thought it would be! One thing that is cool and complex at the same time is that you are in complete control of opacity in watercolor painting. It’s amazing to see how one color can change depending on the ratio of paint to water that you use on the brush. I obviously still have a lot to learn and need tons of practice, but I think the most difficult part is to start. If you’re thinking of trying something new, don’t hesitate – just GO FOR IT and have fun!

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A little of this & a little of that

Upcycled Notebooks

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

I love this notebook that I received as part of some swag from a meeting. The covers were made out of thin wood and had a company logo from Instagram® embossed on the front. I collected a few books and gave them a new look by adding a strip of a tightly woven burlap and some pretty leaves to give it an autumn vibe. The leaves I made by using Tim Holtz distress inks, stencils, and some Spellbinders die cuts. Collage medium was used to attach the burlap that covered the embossed logo. Stampin Up dimensionals were used to attach the leaves. I’m happy with the way they turned out!

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A little of this & a little of that, Cards

Social Networking

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

Just sharing a few pics of some papercrafting that I don’t think I’ve shown here, along with a cartoon that I love! With all of the social media available these days, I’m thinking of setting up an Instagram account just to post pictures of my creations on, instead of maintaining a website. What social network do you spend the most time on? For me, it’s Facebook and Instagram.  I think the cartoon below sums it all up – the internet has changed our world for sure! Have a great week.

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      blog-candy-bar-wrapper blog-brave

 

 

A little of this & a little of that

Catnip

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

Just want to share a card that I made using a photo of my cat Lola. This card took about 10 minutes to make! I started by cutting a piece of pink paper to almost cover the front of the card base. Then I cropped the picture a bit smaller than the pink paper and attached it using foam dots for some dimension. I stamped the sentiment on the same color paper as the card base, then just cut the banner shape with scissors freestyle. I attached the sentiment to the pink paper with a tiny staple. Once all of that was done, I glued the pink paper to the card base. I left the inside blank so I could use it as a note card to send to a sweet sassy friend. Making this card was super easy and is a great way to incorporate photos into cards. Thanks for looking – have a great week!

A little of this & a little of that

2013 in review for my little blog!

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,000 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 33 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

A little of this & a little of that, Tags

Plumage

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

The color of these bags jumped out at me when I first saw them on the rack at Michael’s. I knew I had pretty peacock stamps that I bought a few years ago that I could use to make tags with to pair with the pretty bags. I used Close To My Heart’s “Circle of Love” stamp set and stamped the peacock and the feather on white cardstock and embossed. Copic markers worked great for coloring and Stickles for a little extra sparkle. I am happy that what I envisioned the tags to be turned out exactly as planned!

CTMH Circle of Love stamp set     CTMH Circle of Love stamp set

CTMH Circle of Love stamp set, Cricut tag card

A little of this & a little of that, Tags

Bottle bling

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net
PSX Key West lighthouse rubber stamp
Cheers to Fred!

A shout out to my friend Adriana for taking this picture with her iPhone for me, since I haven’t quite gotten into the habit of taking photos of my paper craft projects. I have a camera case hanging on a door handle, ready to grab & use at any time, and I still manage to forget!

I love pulling out pretty designer paper from my stash, grabbing one of my favorite rubber stamps, and picking out Copic marker colors to coordinate with the project. This one-dimensional card was made to hang off of a wine bottle, with a tag that pulls out on the side. The Key West lighthouse stamp is an old PSX rubber stamp that is one of my favorites. I knew the recipient would appreciate it, since he loves the island in the Straits of Florida as much as I do!

Here are a few photos I did manage to take on a recent trip to Key West. Enjoy your day!

Key West  Key West landscapeGulf of Mexico

A little of this & a little of that, Tags

Wine bottle tag

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

Bottle_craft_002Just sharing a wine bottle tag that I made for someone special’s birthday (sending a shout out to Stephanie S!) I think it’s just too cute not to share!  I used the Totally Stampalicious stamp “Cafe Scarlette” and the sentiment from CTMH’s Piece of Cake stamp set. I wanted to use a pink & orange palette to make the birthday girl’s day bright and happy! A big thank you to my pal Bryn for taking the picture for me.

A little of this & a little of that

“Semi-homemade” lighthouse notepads

Diane Kaufman; ForKeepsSake.net

I have always loved lighthouses. Living in Florida, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing probably over a dozen of them from the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse in South Florida, to the lighthouse on Sanibel Island on the west coast, to the Garden Key lighthouse on top of Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park.

Recently I attended an event in St. Augustine, and I made several of these notepads to give to a few special key people at a business meeting.  I knew when I saw the black and white striped notepads at Michael’s I had to take them home with me and add something to them.  Since I have a couple of rubber stamps of Florida lighthouses, I used my St. Augustine lighthouse stamp to embellished these matchbook notepads. I stamped & embossed the image on white cardstock, added the sun & clouds in the background, rounded the corners, used Copic markers to color, added a ribbon & mat, then attached with pop dots to the notepad. I was happy with how my “semi-homemade” project turned out!

stamp and stamped image  Stamped images ready to attach to notepads

Finished lighthouse matchbook notepad notepad before & after